E! Boss Denies Catt Sadler Pay Disparity Allegations

E! boss Frances Berwick challenged Catt Sadler’s claims of pay disparity at the network by claiming “different roles” for her and her male co-anchor.

Berwick, president of NBCU Cable Entertainment’s lifestyle networks (which include E!), said “there’s a lot of misinformation” in the press during a Television Critics Association panel Tuesday.

“Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler had different roles, and therefore different salaries,” Berwick said. “Catt was focused on daytime; Jason Kennedy is on prime evening news, plus red carpet. Our employees’ salaries are based on their roles and their expertise, regardless of gender. So we wish Catt well, but I hope that sets the record straight on that.”

Sadler, a former host at E! Entertainment Television, said she left the network after learning that her male co-host, Jason Kennedy, made “close to double” her salary for nearly two years.

Sadler wrote on Facebook when she first spoke on the matter that she and her team asked the network to pay her “what I know I deserve and were denied repeatedly.”

Celebrities like Will & Grace star Debra Messing and Eva Longoria called out the network while being interviewed on the networks Golden Globes red carpet coverage.

“I was so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts. I mean, I miss Catt Sadler. We stand with her and that’s something that can change tomorrow. We want people to start having this conversation that women are just as valuable as men,” Messing said during an interview with E! host Giuliana Rancic.